fourmi

\fuʁ.mi\

/\fuʁ.mi\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“fourmi” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #21,019. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#21,019
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
13
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Petit insecte social sans ailes (sauf individus sexués), vivant en colonies dans des fourmilières. C’est un hyménoptère qui possède en particulier des antennes coudées et un pétiole.

Corpus desk

Index FR-fourmi · fourmi · French

fourmi · rank #21,019 · 8 variants · 13 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #21,019
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH flotter

Nearest frequency peer: flotter (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « fourmi »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « fourmi » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

fourmi vs fours
67% similar
fourmi vs fourni
83% similar
fourmi vs fourré
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for fourmi
PropertyValue
Headwordfourmi
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fuʁ.mi\
Letters6
Frequency rank#21,019
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « fourmi »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.fourmise place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « flotter » (#21,018), « fournira » (#21,020), « flocons » (#21,017). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « fourmi » est au #21,019. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around fourmi (IPA \fuʁ.mi\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #21,019 among 3,276 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for fourmi, with forms such as "ffourmi", "forumi", and "foumri". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "fours", "fourni", "fourré", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is fourmi, spelled F-O-U-R-M-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Petit insecte social sans ailes (sauf individus sexués), vivant en colonies dans des fourmilières. C’est un hyménoptère qui possède en particulier des antennes coudées et un pétiole.
  2. 2
    Personne qui économise en prévision de l’avenir, en opposition à la cigale et en référence à la fable de La Fontaine.
  3. 3
    Meuble représentant l’animal du même nom dans les armoiries.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how fourmi appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ce sont les larves des pucerons qui […] semblent ne pouvoir exécuter d’autre mouvement que de relever de temps à autre leur gros abdomen arrondi et terminé par deux petits tuyaux en forme de cornes mobiles. À chaque fois, une goutte de liquide sucré s’échappe par ces orifices, et d’ordinaire il se trouve dans le voisinage quelques fourmis prêtes à happer…
  2. On raconte qu'en 1543, la ville de Lima était déjà entourée de bananeraies, mais qu'une invasion de fourmis ayant mis la ville à sac, pour ainsi dire, en détruisant les vivres dans toutes les maisons, on attribua le fléau aux plantations de bananiers.

This word in other languages

ant(English)hormiga(Español)Ameise(Deutsch)formiga(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ffourmi
  • forumi
  • foumri
  • fourim
  • fourmmi
  • fourrmi
  • fuormi
  • ofurmi

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fourmi - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ffourmi1forumi2foumri2fourim2fourmmi1fourrmi1fuormi2ofurmi2
Edit distance from "fourmi"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "fourmi"?
"fourmi" is spelled F-O-U-R-M-I. The IPA pronunciation is \fuʁ.mi\.
What does "fourmi" mean?
As a noun, "fourmi" means: Petit insecte social sans ailes (sauf individus sexués), vivant en colonies dans des fourmilières. C’est un hyménoptère qui possède en particulier des antennes coudées et un pétiole.
What words are commonly confused with "fourmi"?
"fourmi" is commonly confused with "fours", "fourni", "fourré". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "fourmi"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fourmi" is \fuʁ.mi\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "fourmi" come from?
"fourmi" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fourmi", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Gignac#21,025gratin#21,028enduit#21,001Duflot#20,989

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

domino8 variantsDakota8 variantslillois8 variantsmaduro8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list